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DAKOTA:
A Multilevel Parallel Object-Oriented Framework for Design Optimization,
Parameter Estimation, Uncertainty Quantification, and Sensitivity Analysis 

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					Sandia National Laboratories

Brian M. Adams      (Project Lead)                      _/_/_/       
Michael S. Eldred   (Research Lead)           	         _/_/    
James R. Stewart    (Business Manager)	 	    _/_/_/_/_/_/ 
William J. Bohnhoff (Support Manager)        	   _/  _/_/  _/  
Keith R. Dalbey                                   _/  _/_/  _/   
John P. Eddy                                  	    _/_/_/       
Laura P. Swiler
Dena M. Vigil			        P.O. Box 5800, Mail Stop 1318
					Albuquerque, NM 87185-1318   

Patricia D. Hough			P.O. Box 969, MS 9217
Sophia Lefantzi				Livermore, CA 94551-0969

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License

DAKOTA is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.  It
is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.  A copy of this license is included in
the LICENSE file, and is also available online from
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html.  Also refer to the COPYRIGHT
file for important U.S. Government legal notices.

The DAKOTA distribution contains libraries which are available
separately under compatible licensing terms.  In particular, many of
the libraries in packages are available separately under
the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).  DAKOTA source
distributions include optional GNU GPL-licensed components, which are
disabled by default, resulting in an LGPL-compatible DAKOTA.

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Overview

The DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) 
toolkit provides a flexible, extensible interface between analysis codes and 
iteration methods. DAKOTA contains algorithms for optimization with gradient 
and nongradient-based methods; uncertainty quantification with sampling, 
reliability, stochastic expansion, and epistemic methods; parameter estimation 
with nonlinear least squares methods; and sensitivity/variance analysis with 
design of experiments and parameter study capabilities.  These capabilities 
may be used on their own or as components within advanced strategies such as 
surrogate-based optimization, mixed integer nonlinear programming, or 
optimization under uncertainty.

Refer to http://dakota.sandia.gov/ for additional information,
including support contacts..

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Distributions

DAKOTA is distributed in binary (executable/library) and source code
formats.  Recommendations for getting started with either format can
be found in INSTALL included with the distribution, but the most up to
date guidance can be found alongside downloads on the DAKOTA website.

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Platforms

DAKOTA operates on most systems running Unix or Linux operating
systems as well as on Windows with the help of a MinGW or Cygwin
emulation layer.  DAKOTA is developed and most extensively tested on
Redhat Enterprise Linux with GNU compilers, but additional operating
systems / compiler combinations are tested nightly as well.  See the
DAKOTA website for more information on supported platforms for
particular DAKOTA versions.  DAKOTA was historically tested on
SGI/IRIX, DEC/OSF, and HP-UX, but these are not actively supported.

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Versions

Versions of the DAKOTA software have been tagged as follows:

5.2 (estimated)    11/30/11 (refer to svn externals for TPL tags)
5.1                12/21/10 (refer to svn externals for TPL tags)
Version_5_0        12/21/09 (refer to svn externals for TPL tags)
Version_4_2        11/05/08 (refer to svn externals for TPL tags)
Version_4_1         9/21/07 (refer to svn externals for TPL tags)
Version_4_0         5/12/06 (acro-coliny, opt++, DDace, and Surfpack tagged
                             Dakota_Version_4_0 4/28/06)
Version-3-3        12/23/04 (acro-pub-coliny tagged Dakota_Version_3_3 12/23/04)
Version-3-2         7/21/04 (acro-pub-coliny tagged Dakota_Version_3_2  7/21/04)
Version-3-1-2       7/09/03 (uses Dakota_Version_3_1 of sgopt/pico/utilib)
Version-3-1-1       5/21/03 (uses Dakota_Version_3_1 of sgopt/pico/utilib)
Version-3-1         4/04/03 (sgopt/pico/utilib tagged Dakota_Version_3_1
                             4/04/03)
Version-3-0         3/30/02 (sgopt/pico/utilib tagged Dakota_Version_3_0
                             3/30/02)
Version-3-0-beta   11/30/01 (sgopt/utilib tagged Dakota_Version_3_0_beta
                             11/30/01; pico: use cvs-p co -r osi -D 11/30/01)
Version-2-1-preansi 9/17/01 (last non-ANSI; same sgopt/utilib/pico as below)
Version-2-1         7/09/01 (sgopt/utilib/pico tagged Dakota_Version_2_1
                             6/22/01)
Version-2-0         3/14/00 (sgopt/utilib/pico tagged Dakota_Version_2_0 3/7/00)
Version-1-1         4/15/99
Version-1-0         2/18/99

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Contributing enhancements.

DAKOTA is both a research and a production code and is under active
development.  Bug reports, suggestions for improvement, and changes to
support other platforms/compilers are welcome.  See the DAKOTA
Developer Portal at http://dakota.sandia.gov/developer/ for more
information.

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